Author

Level

Activity Time

Device

Software

TI-Nspire Version

Activity Overview

In this activity, students will work through a scenario of a business venture involving washing dogs. They will translate fixed and variable costs to a cost function and make a decision about how much to charge to wash per dog. When the break-even point is found, students must interpret it to answer the question.

Key Steps

The first concept introduced here is the idea of a fixed cost ($50) in the purchase of supplies. You may wish to discuss start up costs for a business. Next, the idea of a unit price is introduced. Help the students to divide the total cost $4.79 by the number of washes (approximately 32) per bottle.

Pages 1.2 and 1.3 ask the student to choose expressions that represent the unit cost and the Cost function.

Page 1.4 provides an opportunity to discuss what might go into the decision of how much to charge for a service. The students could take the $50 fixed costs and divide it by several different prices to determine an approximate break-even point.